Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-09-11
Gents Shoes,
io5, 'O5 Houston and .Ol Main Street.

he may lease such agricultural lands in
small quantities for : less term than five
years, Is the public interest and develop
T,gut of the country may seem to require,
and no agricu tural lands shall be leased
il in theiudgment OF theCommissioner they
may De in immediate demand for settle
ment, but sucn lands shall be held
for settlement and sold to sctual
settlers only under the pro-
visions OF this act" Standing this
Isw up beside the facts and your admis-s
sions, 81 frankly ssy thai l am unable to
see where the Commissioner gets the eu-
thority Cor the discretion if ne should
dare to exercise it under such circ1m-
| stances to lease out these lands ID IN
! limited quantities on terms to suit the
lessee, not to exceed the laws naximum
Of tive years. Under date OF August 2,
| you wrote letter to g citizen Of this
| county in which these words occur: "Al
! unsold or Unbiased lands Are subject 20
! lease. l enclose you blanks to lease
under the new law. Apply for what
| you Want.n Would it not he
more in Consonance with the
| letter and spirit Of the law to have within
! him something sitter this manner: cap
! ply for what you want and accompany
| your application with euCn evidence as
| you have to the effect that the lands you
| apply for are not in immediate
demand for purposes Of settlement.
! will then determine whether they are sub
jet 10 lease"
| aU aHaIc OF the severe penalty i'm
! posed by section Is Of the law upon those
wGO "fence, use, occupy or appropriate,
! by aerding or Iine-riding" any OF these
tands, and expect the Governor
| TO rigldly enforce It. Most
Of the fences erected around
these lands were put there by trespAgsers
in open defiance Of 2 law prohibiting it.,
| before the enactment OF the present laW,
! The Legislature was fully coguizant 81
this t&c5 at the time the act passed, which
explains why this provision occurs in sec
| tion 20 of the law: "AIl enclosures Of
or fences upon any Of the pubic Isnds or
| the lands belonging to the public free
| school, asylum or university fands, with
| out awful authority, shall be removed
Within sixty days from the time this get
shalI take effect" If the Com
missioner refuses TO lease any lend
! because of the demand for
settlement, as he should do, the trespssser
| should be made to suffrr the penalty, III
case he refuses to remove his fence
within the period fixed by the law. This
is the intention Of the law. There is no
penalty for merely permitting stock to
Craze on these LANDS, hence there need
be no "ruthIess destruction of the cattle
interests Of Texas by enforcing one psrc
of wise and Just law" The Legisla-
ture never intended to humble the dignity
of the state for the protection Of defiant
trespssser ct the sacrifice ofthe settlement
and development Of the richest portion
CT the state. No such concessions were
made by the friends OF the bill while il
was under consideration in the Legisla-
ture. If, indeed, such rad been done it
never could have passed n any shape.
II the policy of leasing aIl lands
applied for, whether occupied Or unoccu-
pied, agricultural or pasture lands, be
adopted in open violation Of these pl4in
and explicit provisions, how are the peo-
pie to receive il? Perhsps the 1000 re-
acres leased in thirty days,
sllude to with so much
to satisfy those
quainted with
the man w
the Wee4
out,
CO